The DOF Transcription Factors in Seed and Seedling Development

The DOF (DNA binding with one finger) family of plant-specific transcription factors (TF) was first identified in maize in 1995. Since then, DOF proteins have been shown to be present in the whole plant kingdom, including the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The DOF TF family is characterised by a highly conserved DNA binding domain (DOF domain), consisting of a CX2C-X21-CX2C motif, which is able to form a zinc finger structure. Early in the study of DOF proteins, their relevance for seed biology became clear. Indeed, the PROLAMIN BINDING FACTOR (PBF), one of the first DOF proteins characterised, controls the endosperm-specific expression of the zein genes in maize. Subsequently, several DOF proteins from both monocots and dicots have been shown to be primarily involved in seed development, dormancy and germination, as well as in seedling development and other light-mediated processes. In the last two decades, the molecular network underlying these processes have been outlined, and the main molecular players and their interactions have been identified. In this review, we will focus on the DOF TFs involved in these molecular networks, and on their interaction with other proteins.

The DOF Transcription Factors in Seed and Seedling Development

The DOF (DNA binding with one finger) family of plant-specific transcription factors (TF) was first identified in maize in 1995. Since then, DOF proteins have been shown to be present in the whole plant kingdom including the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The DOF TF family is characterised by a highly conserved DNA binding domain (DOF domain), consisting of a CX2C-X21-CX2C motif which is able to form a zinc finger structure. Early in the study of DOF proteins it became clear their relevance for seed biology. Indeed, the Prolamine Binding Factor (PBF), one of the first DOF proteins characterised, controls the endosperm-specific expression of the zein genes in maize. Subsequently, several DOF proteins from both monocots and dicots have been shown to be primarily involved in seed development, dormancy and germination, as well as in seedling development and other light-mediated processes. In the last two decades the molecular network underlying these processes have been outlined, and the main molecular players and their interactions have been identified. In this review, we will focus on the DOF TFs involved in these molecular networs, and on their interaction with other proteins.

An update on the maize zein-gene family in the post-genomics era

Maize (Zea mays) is a cereal crop of global food importance. However, the deficiency of essential amino acids, more importantly lysine, methionine and tryptophan, in the major seed storage zein proteins makes corn nutritionally of low value for human consumption. The idea of improving maize nutritional value prompted the search for maize natural mutants harboring low zein contents and higher amount of lysine. These studies resulted in the identification of more than dozens of maize opaque mutants in the previous few decades, o2 mutant being the most extensively studied one. However, the high lysine contents but soft kernel texture and chalky endosperm halted the widespread application and commercial success of maize opaque mutants, which ultimately paved the way for the development of Quality Protein Maize (QPM) by modifying the soft endosperm of o2 mutant into lysine-rich hard endosperm. The previous few decades have witnessed a marked progress in maize zein research. It includes elucidation of molecular mechanism underlying the role of different zein genes in seed endosperm development by cloning different components of zein family, exploring the general organization, function and evolution of zein family members within maize species and among other cereals, and elucidating the cis- and trans-regulatory elements modulating the regulation of different molecular players of maize seed endosperm development. The current advances in high quality reference genomes of maize lines B73 and Mo17 plus the completion of ongoing pan genome sequencing projects of more maize lines with NGS technologies are expected to revolutionize maize zein gene research in near future. This review highlights the recent advances in QPM development and its practical application in the post genomic era, genomic and physical composition and evolution of zein family, and expression, regulation and downstream role of zein genes in endosperm development. Moreover, recent genomic tools and methods developed for functional validation of maize zein genes are also discussed. Graphical abstract

Duplication-Dependent CG Suppression of the Seed Storage Protein Genes of Maize

This study investigates the prevalence of CG and CNG suppression in single- vs. multicopy DNA regions of the maize genome. The analysis includes the single- and multicopy seed storage proteins (zeins), the miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs), and long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons. Zein genes are clustered on specific chromosomal regions, whereas MITEs and LTRs are dispersed in the genome. The multicopy zein genes are CG suppressed and exhibit large variations in CG suppression. The variation observed correlates with the extent of duplication each zein gene has undergone, indicating that gene duplication results in an increased turnover of cytosine residues. Alignment of individual zein genes confirms this observation and demonstrates that CG depletion results primarily from polarized C:T and G:A transition mutations from a less to a more extensively duplicated gene. In addition, transition mutations occur primarily in a CG or CNG context suggesting that CG suppression may result from deamination of methylated cytosine residues. Duplication-dependent CG depletion is likely to occur at other loci as duplicated MITEs and LTR elements, or elements inserted into duplicated gene regions, also exhibit CG depletion.

A New Opaque Variant of Maize by a Single Dominant RNA-Interference-Inducing Transgene

In maize, α-zeins, the main protein components of seed stores, are major determinants of nutritional imbalance when maize is used as the sole food source. Mutations like opaque-2 (o2) are used in breeding varieties with improved nutritional quality. However, o2 works in a recessive fashion by affecting the expression of a subset of 22-kD α-zeins, as well as additional endosperm gene functions. Thus, we sought a dominant mutation that could suppress the storage protein genes without interrupting O2 synthesis. We found that maize transformed with RNA interference (RNAi) constructs derived from a 22-kD zein gene could produce a dominant opaque phenotype. This phenotype segregates in a normal Mendelian fashion and eliminates 22-kD zeins without affecting the accumulation of other zein proteins. A system for regulated transgene expression generating antisense RNA also reduced the expression of 22-kD zein genes, but failed to give an opaque phenotype. Therefore, it appears that small interfering RNAs not only may play an important regulatory role during plant development, but also are effective genetic tools for dissecting the function of gene families. Since the dominant phenotype is also correlated with increased lysine content, the new mutant illustrates an approach for creating more nutritious crop plants.

Improving Methionine Content in Transgenic Forage Legumes

Leguminous forage crops are high in proteins but deficient in S- amino acids. It has been shown that both wool quality and milk production can be limited by the post-ruminal supply of sulfur-containing amino acids. Efforts to use conventional plant breeding and cell selection techniques to increase the S-amino acid content of alfalfa have met with little success. With the objective to increase the S-amino acid content of forage legumes, the goal of this project was to co- express the methionine rich zein genes from corn along with a gene for a key enzyme in methionine biosynthesis, aspartate kinase(AK). The zeins are seed storage proteins from corn and are groupec into four distinct classes based on their amino acid sequence homologies. The b-zein (15kd) and the 6zein (10kD and 18kD) have proportionately high levels of methionine (10%, 22% and 28%, respectively). Initial studies from our lab had shown that while the 15kD zein accumulated to high levels in vegetative tissues of transgenic tobacco the l0kD zein did not. However, co-expression of the 10kD zein with the 15kD zein genes in tobacco showed stabilization of the 10kD zein and the co-localization of the 10kD and 15kD zein proteins in unique ER derived protein bodies. AK is the key enzyme for producing carbon skeletons for all amino acids of the aspartate family including methionine. It is, however, regulated by end-product feedback inhibition. The specific objectives of this proposal were: i. to co-express the 15kD zein with the 10/18kD zein genes in alfalfa in order to enhance the level of accumulation of the 10/18kD zein; ii. to increase methionine pools by expressing a feedback insensitive AK gene in transformants co-expressing the 15kD and 10/18kD zein genes. The Israeli partners were successful in expressing the AK gene in alfalfa which resulted in an increase in free and bound threonine but not in methionine (Galili et al., 2000). Since our target was to increase methionine pools, we changed our second objective to replace the AK gene with the gene for cystathionine gamma synthase (CGS) in the co-expression studies. The first methionine specific reaction is catalyzed by CGS. An additional objective was to develop a transformation system for Berseem clover, and to introduce the appropriate gene constructs into it with the goal of improving their methionine content. Genes for the 15kD zein along with the genes for either the 10kD or 18kD zein have been introduced into the same alfalfa plant both by sexual crosses and by re-transformation. Analysis of these zein co-expressors have shown that both the IOkD and 18kD zein levels go up 5 to 10 fold when co-expressed with the 15kD zein (Bagga et al., MS in preparation). Incubation of the leaves of transgenic alfalfa co-expressing the 15kD and 10kD zein genes, in the rumen of cows have shown that the zein proteins are stable in the rumen. To increase the level of zein accumulation in transgenic alfalfa different promoters have been used to drive the zein genes in alfalfa and we have concluded that the CaMV 35S promoter is superior to the other strong leaf -specific promoters. By feeding callus tissue of alfalfa plants co-expressing the 15kD and 10kD zein genes with methionine and its precursors, we have shown that the zein levels could be significantly enhanced by increasing the methionine pools. We have now introduced the CGS gene (from Arabidopsis; kindly provided to us by Dr. Leustek), into the 15kD zein transformants and experiments are in progress to check if the expression of the CGS gene indeed increases the level of zein accumulation in alfalfa. We were not successful in developing a transformation protocol for Berseem clover.